Another Bloody Mercutio
by Alriadne
Summary: I have to avenge my clan. I've wasted years, its time to make it up. I'm done playing around. Or so I'm trying to tell myself. I didn't leave because he left. Yaoi, NaruSasu. It's under angst for a reason and rated R for language.
1. Chapter One

Naruto:  
I think this is my first really being alone. Not true, I've been alone a lot. In fact I'm always alone, even when I'm in a crowd. No, this is not my first time alone; it just seemed the appropriate thing to say. When you start out on a journey, you're supposed to feel happy, scared or excited. Yea right. I feel...nothing. Maybe not nothing, I'm just not sure what I feel. I feel... empty. That's a better word.  
I'm leaving again. I left only a month ago; it was to cool off, to calm down. I got Jiraya, one of my sensei's to take me out of the village to train. When I came back he was gone.  
If I were to look back, down the path, which I just traveled, I'd be able to see Konoha. It's the place where I was born, where I was raised, where I was hated then loved then hated again. My relationship with Konoha has been very love/hate.  
From a distance it looks beautiful, but I guess from a distance everything is beautiful. Why is that? From a distance you don't see the pain or the hurt. I guess you don't see anything good either, you just see it as beautiful, no questions asked. Ah, questions. You want to know who I am? What if I can't tell you? What if I don't want to? You want to know why I hurt? What if I don't know?  
Who am I? What is meant by that question? You want my name? Well, its Uzumaki Naruto, but it really doesn't have any significance to me. It doesn't tell you who I am.  
You can't see me hurt; you can't see me cry. I'm going to have you laughing until the end. You're going to think its all a joke while I'm lying on the ground dying. Then you're going to realize what happened. You're going to realize how much pain I was in as I made you laugh. You're going to see the person behind the jokes and the pranks. The person behind the mask of the light self-righteous personality. Then you're going to pull away in horror cause you'll realize how much I was bleeding.  
I'm a bloody god-damned Mercutio. I have to be killed off before I upstage Romeo, only this Romeo isn't in love with some girl. This Romeo has no time for petty thoughts of girls and such. He doesn't start off melancholy, the true Petrachian lover, in the beginning and become happy when he meets his "true love." True love doesn't exist.  
I always hated Juliet; just an over protected snot of a little rich girl. She's so naiveté. Falls in love within a week. If she loved Romeo enough to die for him, why didn't she take the dishonor to find him when she had the chance? She said if you can't give up your name I'll give up mine, but she doesn't. When her father tells her to marry Paris or he'll disown her, she threatens to kill herself, but she herself doesn't do anything about it. She should have taken the damned dishonor, gone to the Friar and somehow gotten to Mantua. Then they both would have lived. Idiots.  
Then again, Mercutio isn't supposed to know any of this. He's hiding that pain which drives him as he tries to help Romeo out. Give him a reason to be in pain and it would take away from the universality of his character. Well, this Mercutio doesn't give a damn about everyone relating.  
  
Our Romeo, our Romeo is a bastard. I'm not really his friend. I just hang around since there nothing else to do. Our Romeo cares nothing for love of another; he's too in love with revenge. It's his Laura. Who is our Romeo? Uchiha Sasuke. He's so wrapped up in his love for revenge that no one else exists in his world. Why does Romeo cry after he's banished from Vernona? Not because his friend is dead, no, Mercutio isn't mentioned once in Romeo's laments. He's sad because he has to give up Juliet.  
That sounds like Sasuke. I'm walking dead man and it's his fault and he doesn't even care. Can't see beyond his own damned nose if it's not for the furthering of his goal. That's why I had to leave. I couldn't stand that bastard anymore.  
I used to think he did care. That was back when we were lovers. Back when Romeo and Mercutio couldn't be separated. No one knew of course. Sasuke had his reputation to keep up and I couldn't care less, I should have seen something.  
It all started on that night, so long ago. We had a mission together, just the two of us. The hotel we were staying at had only a double bed. I remember lying there, staring at the ceiling wondering if I would ever fall asleep. It's strange that when you try to sleep its impossible.  
"Hey dobe," he whispered. "What do you want death to be like?" He said it quietly. If I hadn't been in that period where senses are heightened right before sleep I would have never have heard him.  
"It's heaven, everyone's happy asshole. Why do you ask?" I replied.  
"Just curious. I hope it's not like that.  
"Why?"  
"I don't want to go through the pain of being conscious. When I die I want there to be nothing. I want to stop existing."  
"What's so painful about your life that you'd want that? You've got it all."  
"You wouldn't understand."  
"Try me."  
"When I was little no one wanted to be friends with me. I didn't ever have friends. No one wanted to talk to me; they wanted the name and the image. They didn't want me. My parents didn't care about me. My older brother was a genius; they didn't need me. My mom was always away worrying about herself or my brother, my dad was always working. After my parents died, it got worse. I was 'the survivor.' Everyone felt it his or her duty to 'be there for me.' No one wanted me; they wanted the survivor."  
"Why are you telling me?" I asked quietly. He remained silent. "I do understand in a way. I never had parents. I had nannies, but they never cared about me. They always left shortly after they came. When I was six they stopped giving me nannies. I was on my own. Everyone hated me. Always. No one would talk to me. No one wanted to play with me." I hesitated. "I think I want to be reincarnated, but into a happy family."  
"I wouldn't want to go through the pain of living again. That's why I don't want to have children, no matter what my family says. I don't want to put anyone else through the pain of living," Sasuke murmured. I continued to stare at the ceiling. He'd never talked to me like this before.  
"I don't know. I want to continue learning and gaining new experiences."  
"Why would you want that?" he asked. I paused. Not sure of my answer.  
"I want to know the truth, I guess."  
"And that being?"  
"What's the point in life? Or maybe that there is none."  
"What would you do after you figured it out?"  
"I'll come to that bridge when I come to it."  
"I don't see a point." I heard him shift over so he was facing the other wall. I sat up to look at him. He curled up and suddenly looked like a little boy. I put my arms around him and buried my face into his back. We fell asleep like that, him safe in my arms.  
The next day, we kissed. A real kiss, not an accident like the one back at the academy. It was not a good kiss to say the least. Teeth clanking, hands sweating and no one knowing what was going on, but still it brought me up to the heavens.  
After that awkward first kiss, they just kept coming, every time getting better. We didn't talk about it or anything. One day we were sparing in the woods when we kissed again. We somehow ended up under this great oak tree, sitting in one another's arms.  
"I love you," he had whispered into my ear. I remember looking up into his face, seeing what I had thought to be at the time sweet sincerity. I know now of course that it was nothing.  
"I love you," I repeated back to him before pulling his head down to give him a kiss. It deepened. That was the first time we made love. I carved our initials into that tree with my kunai as we lay there basking in the after glow. UNUS forever.  
  
Sasuke:  
The road is quiet. Why wouldn't it be? Do I really expect it to talk? No, I guess I thought that this tip would be like all others I had taken out of the city. They had been noisy and full of life and excitement.  
The first trips I took were with my genin team. Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Naruto and I all on the road together. Through the years as we became chunins, the group get smaller and smaller. Soon just it was just Sakura, Naruto and I, then just Naruto and I. We become Jounin together at age fifteen and ANBU members at sixteen. That was only half a year ago come to think of it. Naruto and I always went on trips together. That's always how it was, the two of us together, complimenting each other in skills.  
We had not, of course, taken the opportunity to be alone on these trips for granted. We relished every moment we had alone together, or at least I did. I thought he did too, but obviously not.  
I guess it's my fault. I've never been good at communicating and I guess he's not either even though he's really loud. So we could never really talk about things. Probably should have, would have been smart. I'm usually regarded as smart, so why wasn't I with this?  
I've heard people say love blinds you. I know it does. I used to love my brother, look what he did. Flashes of what he did to our parents and our clan makes my blood boil.  
That's why I'm out here. Not because he left first, but because I have to avenge my clan. I've wasted years, its time to make it up. I'm done playing around. Or so I'm trying to tell myself. I didn't leave because he left. What do I care what that dobe does? Why do I have to be responsible for what he does? It's not I have to look after him. He's not even grateful I saved his skin all those times. Why do I even bother? I hate him! I hate him so much!  
I'm getting off the road. The sky is turning dark. I don't have to start traveling by night until I reach the sound village. Jumping through trees is more annoying than it looks. I used to love watching my brother do it or riding on my father's back while he chased after someone on a mission. I remember my mother being so mad at him for doing that. No, must not think about parents. I don't have time to be weak now. Now is the time to avenge their deaths, not to cry.  
When leaping through trees you must keep an eye on everything. Tree branches often appear out of nowhere. I used to tease Naruto for running into branches on missions. No, must not think of him either.  
I land on tree trunk large enough for me to sleep on. Might as well stop here for the night. I get to work setting up traps. I can't help thinking as I set up traps within a hundred-meter radius of how when I went on missions with Naruto; he was the one who always ended up getting caught in the traps. I smirk at the memory of him hanging upside down by the foot yelling at me to get him down. I remember kissing him to shut up him.  
Tears are stinging my eyes, must not cry must not cry. Crying is weakness. I can't be weak. I continue to set them up, even triple trapping within a square meter. One can never be too careful when camping alone.  
When all that is done I climb my tree, securing my sleeping bag to the tree with chakra so I don't fall off. That was something Naruto always forgot to do. He always ended up falling off and into his fifth trap of the evening. I think he did it on purpose, just so I would kiss him even though he would have to endure my teasing first before he would get kissed. No, must not think of him.  
I want to light a fire. A fire would give me something to do. It's impossible be lonely when there's a fire to feed. With a fire I would be able to cook and not to have to eat these damned energy bars that taste like grass. Yes I do know what grass tastes like. Naruto once... I'm not going to go there. I must be strong.  
If I had a fire I'd also be able to have a cup of tea. I've always had a weakness for tea like Naruto has for Ramen. No painful memories in that statement. I always used to have a cup of tea before going out to train and then one in the evening right before I slept. Mom always used to have one, full of honey to disguise the taste of the herbs she added in to help me heal from all wounds I got from sparing with Father or Itchi faster. Mom. No, can't go there either. How come my life seems to revolve around either my family or Naruto? How come I can't think of anything besides either of those two?  
Maybe it's impossible. Maybe I should just give in, that's not too bad, is it? Just letting myself wallow in my misery, just this once. After this I'll banish all thoughts from my mind. I'll become the killer Naruto was afraid I'd become. It's his fucking fault. If he hadn't reacted that way when I told him maybe it would have all been ok. I would have died with him, happy, but ok.  
I'm just a walking dead man pursing a man I have to kill. Just a walking dead man relying on fucking drugs to keep him alive. Drugs that must be taken regularly or maybe I won't fulfill my purpose. I can almost feel the disease inside me, infecting my cells and turning it into their own. Turning my own internal defense system against me, making it completely useless. The pathetic thing is that in the end, if I survive killing my brother and anyone else who comes my way, is that I'll probably die of a weak disease that a healthy person could fight off easily.  
How was I supposed to have seen it coming? It was just an ordinary fight. Just a mission. Just another guy to kill. Usually I block out fights. I don't killing sits well with anyone. That's why I block it all out. One day family members of people I've killed on missions will hunt me. I wish I could tell them I remembered their brother, father, son, friend, mother, sister or anything else, but I can't. I simply can't live with all those memories, so I repress them. That fateful fight, it wasn't a fight to be remembered, the guy hardly tried. He managed to wound me, but it was a relatively small cut, not life threatening. His blood, however, was all over me. It covered me practically everywhere and yet the guy was still breathing.  
"You're dead," he whispered with his dying breath. I didn't take it seriously at the time, just the ranting of a man on the edge. That happened a few months before my first time with Naruto.  
Seven months later there was a crisis. There was an earthquake and a lot of people were injured, they needed blood. All shinobi's lined up to have our blood drawn. It was just a pinprick, a little discomfort, nothing a shinobi shouldn't be able to take.  
A week after that the Fifth Hokage called me in. She gave me the news. Something was wrong with my blood. They couldn't use it. The old hag as Naruto calls her wrote me a prescription and sent me to the pharmacy after explaining what was wrong. They didn't catch it in Naruto's blood, not that I asked. I ended up peeking in on medical records and stole all the packets of his blood right out of hospital. Either he didn't have it or it was too early to detect it. It takes a few months before there are enough anti-bodies to detect it.  
That night I told him to meet me at our spot. Our spot is under this big oak tree. It's right by a good training spot and in an area no one would ever look. I set up the dinner, cooking really nice and all. How do you break news like this to someone? I remember practicing over and over in my head all night during dinner until he got fed up with my behavior.  
"Sasuke, I'm not the brightest guy, but even I can tell something is bothering you. Spill," Naruto demanded.  
"Naruto, I've got something important to tell you. It'd be easier if you didn't interrupt me until I was done," I told him. Naruto grinned like Christmas had come early. He probably thought it was good news. He probably thought I had gotten a promotion, or that I'd been told to tell him that he'd gotten a promotion. Or maybe he thought I was going to ask him to move in with me, or maybe... I'll never know what he was thinking.  
"What is it?" he asked excitedly. His face fell when I didn't respond for a few moments to collect my thoughts.  
"Naruto, I'm sick. You might be too. I'm really sorry, I think I gave it to you," I almost whispered. I've never been afraid before. Ok, maybe I had. I'd been afraid when my parents died, when Ochimaru tried to take over me, when Naruto and I first kissed, when we first made love and when I'd found out I was sick. Nothing compared to this.  
"What..." he trailed off. He cleared his throat. "What is it?"  
"I have HIV. That's what comes before AIDS," I told him in case he didn't know. You can never assume that Naruto knows things.  
"What! Isn't that fatal?" he yelled. I nodded. "And you gave it to me? Was I just another fuck toy for you? Did you cheat? How could you do this to me?" He got up and smashed his foot into our tree in rage creating a small crater. He threw me one last look. It was filled with so much emotion. So much love, so much hate, so much sadness. Then he disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving me all alone.  
The next day I couldn't find him anywhere. It wasn't until two days later that I found out he'd left with his former sensei. No one knew why he left or when he was coming back. A week later, I decided to leave. What was the point in staying? I might as well fulfill my promise before I died. The Uchiha would die with me and would truly be the last of them. That was good. Our damned clan could go fuck itself for all I cared. I probably shouldn't be speaking ill of the dead, but I don't care.  
So here I am, a walking dead man. I've been on the road for two months and I'm getting closer. I'm going to beat him. I have no other choice. I need to do his last thing before I die.  
Where ever Naruto is I'm sure he's cursing my name just as I am his. The insensitive bastard. Though I hate him, I still love him. How can this be? I feel as if my heart has been ripped out of me and was trampled on. I want to drive my kunai into my heart to watch it bleed, that'll teach him. Naruto, until the day I die, I spill my heart for you. 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: not mine, just the plot. Note to all yaoi haters. Why are you reading this if you don't approve of yaoi? If you can't see love, not caring what gender the participants are, as beautiful, then don't read. Love isn't about gender.  
  
Naruto: 5th year  
They say time flies when you're having fun. That's a testament to how slow these past years have been that I'm saying this. It's been painfully slow. The days are a pattern, set in a cycle by AZT. Ah beautiful AZT, the one stable thing in my life. I wonder how long I would survive if I were to stop taking it. Maybe it would all end within a month. Maybe I could die and be over with it. No, that would be a pathetic death, not good enough for Uzumaki Naruto. Who am I kidding? I'm lower than dirt.  
  
Today is my fifth year anniversary since the day I found out I was as good as dead. I'd drink a toast to myself, but I lack money to buy any. I've been living off the animals I kill in the forest and whatever vegetation there is. Occasionally I do a mission for some village and I treat myself to ramen. It's more out of habit than want. Ramen has lost its taste as sad as I am to say.  
  
I saw the bastard Ochimaru a few months back. I decided to take a swing at him. Might as well right? Might as well do something worthwhile with my life. It was a strange fight, lasting too long and ending too quickly. We battled it out for a week, seeing who could last longer. Course I was maintaining a field at the same time to keep his cronies out. They just went and bought popcorn from the local village when they realized breaking the field wouldn't work.  
  
During that battle the Kyuubi and I merged. He finally gave me the last of his chakra and went to sleep becoming a voice in my head. Fun right? Now I'm almost schizophrenic. I don't have the scar anymore; it's faded. Still visible, but what was keeping it from fading is now gone. Now I also have a ring of red outside my iris that turns the entire iris red when I might be in danger and my pupils become slits. Oh well, you get some you lost some.  
  
I don't remember much about the battle. Between throwing the first kunai and standing over Ochimaru's dead body I remember little. Maybe he wasn't dead, I didn't check. I did cut off his arms though so if he's not dead he's useless.  
  
I haven't seen anyone from Konoha in over a year. Back in year one a lot of hunter-nins were after me. I'd put off the battle and ask them to have a bowel of ramen with me before we fought so we could catch up on the good old days. Then we'd fight. I usually ended up knocking them out and then dragging them to the local hospital and paying well over whatever it would take to get them back on their feet before leaving. Word spread through the hunter-nin community that I was hard to take down but not dangerous at all. After a while people started coming just for the ramen and the training practice. Then they stopped coming all together as I moved away further and further away from Fire Country. I think I regret them not coming. At least when they came I had something to do. Now I'm all alone with my thoughts. I saw Sasuke, in passing about two years ago.  
  
I was traveling through a forest, just tree hoping like usual. I was racing the wind for the sole purpose to see if I could beat it. I decided to head east, simply because I could. When you're alone you don't have to justify why you do things. I don't think I ever justified why I did things, I just did them. All the stupid self-righteous crap. It got me no where.  
  
By going east, I came upon Sasuke who was traveling west. Right before we were about to collide we both changed direction, traveling north. We kept running, side by side, each refusing to look at the other, for the whole day. Just before sunset we split going in opposite directions.  
  
I wish I had looked at him, just to see him. I couldn't bring myself to though. If I had, I would have stopped. I would have seen him way too skinny from not eating, his pale skin burnt from traveling all day, his hands cut from rigorous training and his eyes hard from the betrayal I dealt him. The angel who was sentenced to die.  
  
Why couldn't I just trust him and give him a chance to explain? Why did I just jump to a conclusion like I always do? Well, it wasn't my fault. It was his! He's the one who hurt me!  
  
I've been living in this forest for the past year. The villages nearby think I'm some kind of demon. Well, I am. I am a demon. I've got one living inside me and I have a reason for wanting to be alone.  
  
Why don't I just die? I could commit suicide. No, I can't do that. I have to do something before die, though I wish I knew what so I could get on with the dying.  
  
It's all his fucking fault. That's right Naruto, go on with your self- righteousness, until you die in your self-righteous suicide. I cried when angels deserved to die.  
  
Sasuke: Well, it has been five fucking years since I've left and I still have yet to find the bastard. I've been training though. Every morning, from sunrise till noon I train. There's a path of broken trees leading right to me. If they knew who I was the locals would complain of deforestation.  
  
I have a lot of fires now. Warm glowing things that I boil water over. I've done some missions for the soul purpose of buying tea leaves.  
  
I'm twenty-one now. I can legally drink, cheers to you Sasuke, you're definitely an adult now. When I became a legal adult, legal in non ninja villages, I bought my first packet of cigarettes. Horribly nasty things, but they distract me. Who cares if my lungs get messed up, I'm going to die anyway. Non-ninja villages always ask to see my ID, ninja villages don't. In a ninja village you're an adult at fourteen. They figure the odds are you're going to die before your eighteenth or twenty-first birthday, so they might as well let you drink, smoke, marry and vote now. No point in dragging it out right?  
  
I wonder how everyone at home is doing. I wonder if Sakura moved on, if Ino and Shikamaru have married, if Hinata is still shy, if Neji is still a bastard, if Lee still wears those aweful suits, if Kiba is still loud and Shino quiet, if Chouji is still fat, if Kakashi still covers his face and if Iruka still teaches. I miss them all. Memo to self, have a smoke with Asuma one day, I can stand him now that I smoke too.  
  
Interesting happenings a few months ago. The scar stopped coming to life. Usually it would prickle and I'd have to stop and fight it. It no longer does that and now its fading slowly. I wonder if the bastard Ochimaru is dead. Maybe that's why. I wonder how Naruto is doing? Is he dead? Is he sick too? Does he pray to the god of AZT like I do? Does he miss me like I do him? Is he still so god awful hyper? I used to hate that about him, thinking back I still do. I hate his golden hair and his sweet smile. I hate his arrogant air. I hate when he thinks he's tough and when he has moral dilemmas. You can't go around being a fucking saint and still be a ninja. In fact I hate everything about you, Naruto. So why do I love you? 


	3. Chapter Three

Azidothymidine is AZT. It's the drug, which I believe slows down the effects of the HIV. BTW, I don't know anyone with AIDS and don't have lots of info, only basics. Oh Disclaimer: The character's opinions of AIDS are not shared by the author and are to be applied to all people with AIDS. People with AIDS can live happy lives and be very healthy for a long time. My characters are just sad cause they're those types of people. Disclaimer 2: Naruto is not mine.  
  
Naruto: 10th year  
  
I'm coming home. After all these years, I'm homeward bound. Home, where my escaping. Home, where my music's playing. Home where my love lies waiting silently for me. Yea right. I'm not going home for any reason like that. I've given up on my dream to become hokage because I'm going home to die.  
I've stopped taking the pills that's why I'm dying. Maybe I can get one more good fight before I go or maybe I can die in peace. Either way seems good. I just don't want to be alone anymore.  
I don't know what made me stop taking the pills, I just did. A complete subconscious decision thus proving I have a subconscious. Whoopie. It has been interesting to watch myself deteriorate. I don't think I've felt this weak in a very long time. I wonder what Sasuke would think if he saw me like this. Would he smirk and tell me I'm dead last again? Would I respond?  
I think I lost my ability to speak. I haven't in about four years. Strange how people used to think I was loud. Once you stop speaking its as if it is impossible to. I don't even think my vocal chords work any more.  
I'm a mile away from Konoha now; I can see it down the road. I wonder if it has changed too. Maybe it is kinder, but I can't see that from here. From a distance it is still the same. Maybe a bit taller, maybe a bit brighter with new paint, but all in all the same. Hokage mountain still stands tall only boasting a new face of it. Tsunade has been immortalized on it. The old hag. I miss her.  
I run the last leg to the village and hide in the bushes. My mission: to get over the wall without being detected. Maybe I can go in the normal way, no, too normal for me. Need a challenge. I grab a camouflage cloth, one of the wall. I stick all my chakra into my back so I'll stick and whenever they aren't looking my way I inch up. I could get over quicker, but that would be less fun. I watch my chakra so it resembles that of a squirrel or something. They won't even look my way.  
I'm over, success at last. I'm going to blend in, something that used to be hard for me but now I'm practiced at it. I can blend in with any crowd. Back when I got restless I worked as a pseudo assassin. There were rumors that I'd come out of nowhere and attack. I didn't actually kill anyone. Cripple them for life yea, but not kill. Ten years of isolation and hasn't changed that.  
The village is still the same. Everything is the same. Without you the ground thaws, the rain falls, the grass grows, children play, the earth turns, the sun burns but I'm dying without you. Sasuke, it's all the same except for me, I'm dying without you.  
The site of Tsunade's office distracts me from my thoughts. I wonder if I can sneak in without anyone noticing. I'm going to go in the normal way. I walk in the door as if I'm just waiting around for orders and disappear into the bathroom, changing into my old ANBU outfit. How I hate to put it back on! I join a group of ANBU's heading upstairs and tag along. How unobservant they are. Back in my day they would have all attacked me with kunai by now. Ack! They're turning another way! I leap out the nearest window and hang on. I climb slowly up the rest of the way, careful to stay in the tower's shadow. Slinging onto the windowsill and into her office is easy. Have I gotten better or is security here horrible?  
"Hold it. You move like one of my ANBU but I know you're not. Tell me who you are," a female voice demands. I turn around to see Tsunade holding a kunai to my throat. She still looks the same as she always did. Now she looks younger than I do. All the effect of time has taken no toll on her youthful appearance. All hail the queen of youth. I sigh and take off my mask revealing a cloth covering my face much like Kakashi's. All she can see are my eyes. She looks quizzically at me, wondering who I am.  
"Red eyes. Unusual. You sneak in here in an ANBU outfit and do so quietly. You have red eyes. But you're not..." she trails off.  
"Sas...Sasuke," I sputter, my first word since I last screamed his name in anguish four years ago. I cleared my throat, the ability to talk returned. "You're losing your touch old hag." I take out the necklace she gave me all those years ago, still around my neck.  
"Naruto?" she asks. I nod silently. She keeps the kunai up, but visibly relaxes. Then with a clang it drops to the floor and her arms are around my neck. "You brat! You scared us so much! You made me send Hunter- nins after you!" She pulls back and resumes her defensive pose, remembering that I deserted the village, that I'm a missing nin and a potential threat. "Why did you come back?"  
"To die," I tell her softly. With a tug my facemask comes down along with my hood. I can almost feel my eye color changing back to be the blue ringed with red.  
"From what?" she asks cautiously. She takes inventory of me, sees my thinness from not eating and my deterioration. "Naruto, I'm going to have to put you under arrest. You're a missing nin. I can't just pat you on the back and welcome you with open arms." I nod but feel my mood dropping. What could I expect? "I'll tell them you're sick and get you to the hospital."  
"I don't need to..." I start and the world goes black. Memory seeps through my veins. I feel myself becoming weightless and empty, sinking into the oblivion of peace. I dream of him, holding me in his arms, in the arms of the angel. I can feel myself flying far, far away from all this. He holds me and comforts me. I'm in the arms of the angel; I find only comfort here.  
  
Sasuke:  
On the road again. What else am I do to? I am a like the rounin, no master, no where to go and no purpose. What am I to do?  
I train now, any possible time when I don't travel where my feet take me. If I don't I start to think.  
I wonder if he's dead, if he's sick or if he's suffering. I am walking home, for I have no where else to go. No where else to have a claim to, not even a weak one. I can remember neither any place I stopped in my journey nor any man I killed. I feel so empty but then I always have. He was the only one who made it all go away. I close my eyes and dream of him. He's radiating like the sun, chasing away all my fears and doubts. He's filling the emptiness with warmth and joy. He's older now in my mind's eye, mature. The years have been kinda to him; the disease hasn't taken hold of his youthful boy. He's still the boy of seventeen only with a wisdom about him even though now he's twenty-six like I am. Does he think of me as I do him? Does he regret walking out on me like a coward? Is he even still alive? Has he fallen to an enemy or to sickness? I don't think so, somehow I know that's not true, but I can't tell for sure. One foot in front of the other. I don't come in triumphantly. I come into my hometown beaten and broken, the last of the Uchiha ready to admit defeat at last. I trudge along the path. Just one more step, I tell myself over and over again. I can make it. In truth I come home triumphant. I accomplished my goal for setting our, or one of them at least. Itachi, my most hated brother, is dead. A battle fought, many times each ended in him laughing over me until the last time when I stood over him. It was a sharingun battle, both of us copying moves quickly from each other as soon as they were shown to us. We were matched, him having the slight advantage. Then I remember Naruto, his willpower and his need to succeed. In secret I always wanted to be like him. I always wanted to be able to prevail through all the trials like he did. I felt as if he was with me. He had killed Ochimaru for me so now I could kill Itachi with no hindrance. Walking away from the last battle, with my brother's body burning to ash behind me, broke me more than the battle itself. I had to rest for a month afterward, but the hopeless look on his face when I gave the final blow imprinted itself on my soul. Naruto never liked killing. I believe he only did it once in all the years I knew him and he mourned the man diligently for years afterward, the death leaving its mark. He would wound, he would cripple, he would take off limbs leaving people near vegetables and he would ruin lives but he wouldn't take them. Killing this man whom Naruto had often told me to forget was as if I was cursing Naruto and spitting in his face. I had defied him, done something he considered horrible to my own flesh and blood. I walk through the gates of Konoha tiredly. It is night and the moon shines over head. My head is covered by a hat my face by a scarf. I stumble through, ignored by the guards. If they only knew what I could do to them easily if I had the whim to, they'd be quaking in their boots and chuunin vests. The streets are quiet as they always were. The stars gleam, the breeze warms me, clouds move across the sky, the days have soared, a baby cries, the moon glows, the river flows, I almost expected the whole town to stop without you Naruto. My tears have dried even though my heart yearns for him. The world keeps on turning like it always has, but something inside me has died. I make my way down the streets, following my feet. I come to a house. I don't know why, but I want to knock on the door and ask to come in. My rouge feet move toward the house and my hand knocks on the door. Laughed emits from the house and the door opens showing a sliver of light. "Hello? How can I help you?" a confident yet kind voice asks. Sasuke looks up at her. She has pink hair and friendly green eyes. It's Sakura. Her stomach is swollen with pregnancy. How Naruto would like to see her now, so happy. "Naruto," I whisper too softly for her to hear. I cough and collect my thoughts. She gasps as I pull off my scarf and hat. "Sasuke!" she exclaims dropping the plate that was in her hand. She falls into me, her arms around my neck. "Come inside! Have some dinner. You must be starved. Geeze you worried us! How could you do that! Look! You made me drop my best china!" she mock scolds. She ushers me into her house as if I had only disappeared for a few days. I'm forced to sit down at a table in a warm kitchen. Sitting at the table are children. Children who look like a mix of Sakura and someone familiar. Someone with black hair and round eyes. Rock Lee. "Mommy? Who's he?" one of them, a little girl, asks. She points toward me with her fork before using the utensil to shovel dinosaur shaped chicken into her mouth. "That's Uncle Sasuke sweetie," Sakura tells her daughter as she cleans up the plate she had dropped. The pieces went into the garbage and Sakura washes her hands before going to stand behind her daughter. "Sasuke, this is my daughter Rini and this is my son Kane. Kids this is your uncle Sasuke, I've told you about him." "Yes Mommy," Kane says obediently. "He doesn't look like a really strong ninja to me. Daddy could beat him up," Rini comments rudely. "Rini!" Sakura scolds. "I'm so sorry Sasuke." She turns to her kids. "It's almost bedtime and you have school tomorrow. Finish up and get ready for bed. I'll be there in a bit to tuck you in." The kids nod and eat what is on their plates while Sakura gets me food and stands over me to make sure I eat it all. "Night mommy!" the children call as they leave the room. "I'm sorry Lee was feeling slightly ill tonight. I didn't want to wake him. How've you been?" Sakura asks. "We've missed you." "I killed him," I say and no more is needed. Sakura nods. "Where's Naruto? I thought he was with you. He came back and found you gone. I thought he went to catch up with you so that you wouldn't get ahead in your training," Sakura tells me. She gasps. "Is he ok? Is he dead? Tell me he's still alive." "I don't know. I've only caught sight of him once about seven or so years ago," I inform her. Sakura changes the topic deciding to leave well enough alone, knowing she won't get any information. "Well, Lee and I started going out about a month after Naruto left. We got married about two years later. Rini is now about seven and Kane is five. They're both at the ninja school. Rini is a little genius. She has my brains; Lee's determination, my chakra control and Lee taught her taijutsu. She's so promising. Kane isn't as promising, but he's sweet and kind to everyone. I'm now a jounin and I have my team, which I'll have to give up for a while soon cause of the baby. Lee is an instructor at the school since he can't be a real ninja but we do missions together sometimes. You know, C-class types. "Ino and Shikamaru married. You remember they were going out? They married a year after you left and have three kids, two girls and a boy. They're all geniuses. The oldest is Ayame who is nine. The youngest is their son Shinta and he's three. Hinata married Kiba about five years ago. They have the most adorable little boy. He's eighteen months and the cutest thing you've seen. Neji and Tenten are dating on and off. Neji doesn't want to commit. I think Tenten should leave him for a bit just to get him to realize what his life would be like without her," Sakura gossips. Sakura continues for what seems like hours before showing me the guestroom. That night as I sleep I realize something, this is my home; this is my only home. It's the only sacred ground I've ever known. Forever I will be grateful to it for all it has done for me. 


	4. Chapter Four

Naruto woke up in a hospital bed, something strange but not completely out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary was the scowling face of Shikamaru standing over him. Naruto realized that he probably was just being delusional again and tried to get back to sleep.  
  
"Wake up," Shikamaru told him tiredly. "How troublesome."  
  
"Is that you?" Naruto asked.  
  
"No it's the tooth fairy," Shikamaru said without any humor in his voice. Naruto sat up to get a better look at Shikamaru. He was older, more of a man at twenty-seven than the boy of sixteen that Naruto remembered him to be. He had wrinkles under his eyes, evidence he wasn't enjoying the same amount of sleep he had in the past.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"Hospital. You fainted. Geeze you scared people. You're so troublesome," Shikamaru complained. He paused. Each waited for the other to speak. "So you going to tell me?"  
  
"Tell you what?"  
  
"Why you went away. Why you didn't come back. Why you beat up hunter-nins rather than killing them. Why you came back. Start with those and we'll make our way from there," Shikamaru instructed.  
  
"Is this going on record or something?" Naruto questioned.  
  
"I'm talking to you as a friend not a ninja." Naruto sighed and looked out the window to his right.  
  
"I wanted to become strong and to get away from it all," Naruto said finally. Shikamaru nodded, not asking for information the blond clearly didn't want to give. "I didn't come back because I didn't think I would be accepted and I hadn't become strong yet. I don't like killing but I couldn't just let the hunter-nin get me. I came back cause it was time."  
  
"You have AIDS," Shikamaru commented with no emotion. Shikamaru didn't judge. He didn't sympathize or make people feel guilty. Naruto nodded, knowing it was useless to hide the fact that he had the one disease the fox couldn't cure him of. "You've come home to die."  
  
"How long did they say I have to live?" Naruto inquired.  
  
"Depends on your chakra usage. If you don't use any more chakra than usual, than Hokage gives you two months. If you let's, say, fight a genin for an hour then perhaps a month and a half. A chounin, then maybe you're got a few weeks. If it's a jounin for that same amount of time, then maybe a week. ANBU? Few days. Hokage/Senin level? Then you got to hope you survive a day. That's her prediction."  
  
"How've you been?" Naruto asked.  
  
"I'm an ANBU," Shikamaru said letting the topic be changed. "Ino and I married a bit ago and we have three kids. Two boys and a girl." Naruto grinned like the fox he was. Not even in his thirties and the man who thought everything was troublesome was a father of three.  
  
"How's Sakura?"  
  
"Last I saw her about three months ago she was doing well and pregnant. I can ask Ino if you want. They see each other everyday. By the way, you're coming home to stay with Ino and myself tonight. Sakura will probably be by tonight to see how you are once Ino tells her you're home. She married Lee by the way. They have two kids right now, girl and boy."  
  
"Hin," Naruto started but was interrupted by the coughing. His body shook as if he was in a hurricane. Shikamaru waited for the coughing to stop. "Hinata?" Naruto finished when he could talk without wheezing.  
  
"Married Kiba in the weirdest match I've ever seen. Kiba is so troublesome. They have a baby. I think it's a boy but you can't really tell from a bundle of cloth."  
  
"Chouji?"  
  
"Chouji's dead," Shikamaru informed him. "He's been dead for the past three years cause we couldn't didn't have enough man power on a mission." Naruto brought his head down in shame knowing Shikamaru's unintentional implication. He had just as well have killed Chouji, Shikamaru's best friend. Naruto remained silent for what seemed like forever before speaking what was on his mind.  
  
"Has the bastard come home?"  
  
"Sasuke? No, he hasn't. We were hoping you had. He's one of our most dangerous missing-nins. Anyone who sees him is to take him out."  
  
"What about me? Before I came in what were they supposed to do to me if they saw me?"  
  
"Take up your offer for ramen to try to get information out of you and then try to beat you. Then they were to drag you home. After the first few who came home we realized you weren't a danger," Shikamaru smirked. Naruto wondered why Shikamaru started smirking, but decided the train of thought was too large for him.  
  
"So how has life been without me?" Naruto asked.  
  
"Different. Oh, you'll be staying with Ino and myself for the night. Tsunade wants as little fuss as possible so I volunteered. Are you ready to go or do you want to stay here longer?"  
  
"I'm ready to go," Naruto told him. Shikamaru helped him out of the bed and checked his friend out of the hospital. The two walked sedately down the street. Naruto felt a familiar flare of chakra coming from another street, but dismissed it. It couldn't be him.  
  
Sasuke and Sakura walked up the street side by side. They passed the hospital and headed toward the pharmacy. Sakura was chatting about how life had progressed since Sasuke's disappearance. He felt a familiar chakra pattern but it was gone before he could identify it. He blamed Sakura for the distraction.  
  
"So what medicine do you need anyway?" Sakura asked pulling Sasuke out of his thoughts.  
  
"Um, just some pain killers," Sasuke muttered.  
  
"You should have told me! We have some at home. Ai! I guess I need to stalk up on bandages anyway, two kids get more scrapes than you'd think. " They continued down the street, Sakura lumbering on with all the grace she could muster due to her pregnancy.  
  
"May I?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. He didn't have much experience around women particularly pregnant ones. In fact he believed Sakura was the first pregnant woman he'd ever talked to.  
  
"Sure," Sakura told him. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach so he could feel the baby kicking inside. Sasuke marveled that a life could be inside this woman.  
  
"Let's go get the medicine," Sakura said after Sasuke had removed his hand embarrassed.  
  
Naruto and Shikamaru made good headway to the Nara family house. It was the combined houses of the Nara clan and the Yamanaka clans connected with an over pass over the street. Shikamaru entered the flower shop on the Yamanaka side of the street and stopped with Naruto at the counter.  
  
"Ayame, where's your mother?" Shikamaru asked the young girl with bright blue eyes and dark hair who was sitting behind the counter.  
  
"She's upstairs," the girl said in a bored tone. She looked back down at her book. A little mass of blue assaulted Shikamaru.  
  
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" it called out. Shikamaru caught the assaulting object and held it with expert hands, spinning it around before putting it down revealing that the thing was a young boy that resembled Shikamaru greatly.  
  
"Oy, Naruto, this is my daughter Ayame and this is one of my sons, Shinta," Shikamaru informed his friend.  
  
"Yo," Naruto greeted imitating the copy cat ninja. Ayame looked up with a scowl on her face, nodded and went back to her book. The little boy smiled brightly up at Naruto.  
  
"Can he play with me?" Shinta asked his father, excited for a new playmate.  
  
"Maybe later kiddo," Naruto told the boy.  
  
"Ayame, I'll take Shinta off your hands," Shikamaru informed his daughter who merely nodded without looking up. Shikamaru picked up Shinta and led Naruto upstairs.  
  
"Ayame! You'd better not be thinking of taking a break! You'd better not be being rude to customers!" a voice yelled at them from the kitchen.  
  
"Yo, Ino, its me," Shikamaru called back.  
  
"Shika? Aren't you supposed to be at work? What are you doing slacking off?" The angry figure of Ino wearing an apron and a handkerchief over her blond hair appeared. "Naruto?" she asked confused.  
  
"Hi Ino," Naruto greeted her.  
  
"Where have you been all these years? You made all of us worry you brat! You had no right doing that! You're getting thin! You need to eat!" Ino scolded. Naruto could tell motherhood was suiting her well.  
  
"Mama? What's going on?" another voice called from the kitchen.  
  
"Just keep washing the vegetables!" Ino called back over her shoulder. Shinta held out his arms for his mother who took him and bounced him on her hip reflexively. She smiled at Naruto. "Naruto, its great to see you again! You must be hungry. Do you still like ramen? I can whip you up some."  
  
"No, no, don't want to cause you any trouble," Naruto told her quickly.  
  
"It's no trouble," Ino insisted.  
  
"No, no, its ok, I'm not hungry..." Naruto started.  
  
"You will eat!" Ino demanded.  
  
"Yes ma'am," Naruto said quickly so he wouldn't incur Ino's wrath. Naruto was dragged to the kitchen where he was shoved into a chair while Ino cooked up some ramen.  
  
"Is Ayame minding the shop?" Ino asked her husband.  
  
"She is," he replied.  
  
"She'd better not be rude. I need to have a talk with that girl. She may be smart but that's no excuse," she said more to herself than anyone else. She turned to her husband. "Right Shikamaru?" He nodded obediently. Naruto stifled a laugh, thinking about how whipped his friend was. Ino force-fed Naruto the enormous amount of ramen she made which he hated to be polite even though he no longer cared for ramen, all the while telling him the latest gossip.  
  
"Ikura and Kakashi together now. They came out a year ago and a lot of people haven't been talking to them. My parents and Shikamaru's mother for example refused to. They said it was unnatural and that they should seek treatment to become straight. I don't know if I agree with that, but I'm still not comfortable with it. It's not like I'll stop sending my daughter to Kakashi's for private tutorage or take my sons out of Ikura's class, but I don't like spending time around them if I can help it. I can't help feeling weireded out," Ino went on. "Oh, Shino, I haven't told you about him! I heard from Hinata who heard from Sakura who heard from Tenten that Shino is dating a girl from the Wind Country. Apparently someone who specializes in scarabs. I don't know how true this is because Tenten isn't the most reliable source. Oh, Sakura and I should you up with someone. I know a very nice girl. She's not a ninja, but she is a matrial arts expert. She trains young kids and she's said to be very good. I think you'd like her."  
  
"Mamma?" said the small boy stirring a pot. "Can I go train now?"  
  
"Go ahead," Shikamaru said. The boy stood there as if he hadn't heard his father, waiting for his mother's ascent. Ino nodded and they little boy left the room. "That's the middle one, Kayane, by the way. He's the one you're displacing. Timid kid."  
  
"So, Naruto, do you need to be anywhere today?" Ino questioned.  
  
"The hokage wants to see him in two days, she's given him two days to readjust," Shikamaru told his wife.  
  
"So are you going to tell us what happened? Why you left and why Sasuke left in a huff as well? What happened between you two? Something must have happened," Ino insisted.  
  
"Let him be, he'll tell us when he wants to," Shikamaru put in lazily.  
  
"Naruto, what happened?" Ino demanded.  
  
"Leave him alone," Shikamaru said again.  
  
"But..." Ino started.  
  
"No, we will not press him to tell us if he doesn't want to," Shikamaru said putting his foot down. Ino nodded. When Shikamaru, who was usually rather whipped, demanded something he was being serious.  
  
"So what would you like to do today? Want to see everyone?" Ino asked.  
  
"Actually, I wanted to be alone today. I'll go see everyone tomorrow. I want to collect my thoughts. Would that be a problem?" Naruto wondered.  
  
"No, no problem," Shikamaru said quickly before Ino could react. The bone rattling coughing started again. Ino looked at him with the eye of a mother who's children might be sick. She put her hand against his forehead.  
  
"You're very warm, I'm getting the thermometer. You're too sick to leave," she informed him and made to go to the medicine cabinet for the thermometer and cough medicine.  
  
"I'll be back for dinner," Naruto informed them quickly before leaving with a whoosh of wind.  
  
"He's sick! He can't be out and about," Ino said indignantly. "I didn't give me a chance to tell him when dinner is." She paused. "Naruto thinking and collecting his thought. I never thought I'd see the day. And he's polite too, well, more than before. If I were his mother I'd still smack him over the head for his behavior, but it's better than before. Oy, he's changed though he'll still be the death of several people in this town. Shikamaru, go after him. He's too sick." She went to the sink to wash the dishes as Shikamaru looked at the spot where his friend had been and didn't follow his wife's instructions. Naruto was not telling them something, something big about why he left, and he didn't have much time, Shikamaru thought. Ah well, it was none of his business. If Naruto wanted to keep something a secret than it was his matter.  
  
Naruto sped out of the kitchen and quickly down the streets of Konoha. It was so strange being back here with his old friends, trying to be the same person he had once been that he had pretended to be long ago. Naruto had no idea where he was going or why he had felt the need to leave the Nara house. He guessed that he just wasn't ready to face them. Shikamaru didn't judge him, but the others would. How would Ikura and Kakashi react to his being back? How would his friends like Ino take the fact that he didn't like women? How would they take the fact that he was dying? Had he done the right thing coming back? Maybe it would have been better not to at all.  
  
Jumping around from place to place, just seeing the sights, Naruto ended up on a hill in the woods. There were fewer trees here than he remembered, probably due to deforestation because of the ninjas' training. He sat down and realized the tree was a familiar one. He ran his fingers over the bark until he felt where he had engraved his love for all of time. He picked up his kunai to cross out the message he had written so lovingly, one last message to be remembered and forgotten for all of eternity.  
  
"Sakura, I'm going out," Sasuke said to his friend. She looked up from where she was wrapping her son's twisted ankle.  
  
"Sasuke, I don't think that's a good idea. The hokage will want to see you and you shouldn't just be running off," Sakura protested knowing full well that if he decided to run off he could do so with no problem.  
  
"I'll be back, I promise," Sasuke assured her. Sakura nodded. If nothing else Sasuke always kept his promises if he could.  
  
Sasuke took off, heading back to that spot to pay his respects to his missing lover. He had wanted to visit it all day but couldn't with Sakura breathing down his neck. He didn't know why, he just felt drawn to it. The feeling increased with each step as he neared the old tree. A beep went off. Sasuke stopped running momentarily. He popped the jar out of his pocket and put the proper pills in his mouth, swallowing without water. Sakura's daughter had seen him yesterday. She hadn't made herself aware to Sasuke but he knew she was there and that she had told Sakura. All day Sakura had watched him like a hawk to see if he was all right.  
  
He resumed his journey, racing with the wind through the forest up the hill. The clearing was larger than he remembered, but the tree still stood. He heard a soft scratching sound coming from the other side of the tree. How dare someone touch that tree! It was probably some punk kid destroying everything. Sasuke reached into himself and brought up chakra, not his most powerful, but enough to form a weak chidori. The high pitched chirping of birds alerted the person to Sasuke presence. Sasuke started charging forward, but the person was no longer there.  
  
A foot swung at Sasuke from behind but he heard it before contact was made and dropped to the ground to avoid it. Doing so he had to slam his chidori into the ground, an attack wasted. His ears rung while the chidori made contact with something and he heard his opponent call out an attack but couldn't hear what it was.  
  
"Kage Bunshin," Naruto called out. Many others of him appeared. He sent them to hide in the trees, feeling his chakra flowing weakly through each of them. He'd never been very good at conserving chakra. At this rate he would be dead by the end of the day for if this opponent knew chidori then he must be strong. All his copies threw needles like the boy Haku had many years ago at Sasuke only these were laced with tiny rasengan balls at each end. His clones number about two dozen so if even half of them hit the person would be seriously hurt from all the blood loss that would occur.  
  
Needles were flying at him. Sasuke didn't like needles. He hadn't since the fight with Haku that had nearly killed him. They had something on them, some attack or technique. Sasuke formed the hand signs for kai or cancel quickly. He managed to disable the jutsu on slightly over half, but it was too strong to get the rest before they hit. The needles hit. The normal ones stuck in him like a porcupine creating pinpricks of blood all over him. The ones with the techniques at the end blew off little bits of skin creating bloody creators all over his body. Thankfully none had hit anything vital, but there was more blood than Sasuke had lost in a fight in a long time. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu," he called out, sending the fireball speeding toward his opponent. He used the roaring of the fireball to cover his chidori, following after the fireball, watching for his opponent's evasion. As he ran his mask flew off his face, but he didn't care if the world knew that Uchiha Sasuke was back.  
  
Naruto watched the fire head toward him. He evaded easily but saw a blue light strike him in the chest. It sent him flying and skidding across the ground. His clones disappeared in smoke, he no longer had the strength to maintain them and himself. The force of the attack forced his own mask and hat off. He sat up and began to cough. It was worse than last time, far worse. He coughed up blood, blood from the internal injuries of this fight. The linings of his organs were so weak from disease that they ruptured from the attack forcing blood into his lungs. He looked up and whipped the blood way from his mouth, still wheezing, but under control for now.  
  
"Naruto," Sasuke said angrily when he saw behind the mask, the person who had caused him so much pain, and the person who had forced him to leave. How could he be here? How could Naruto be the person whom he was fighting? When had Naruto become stronger than he had? Why? Why had Naruto left? Why hadn't Naruto been there for him? Why? He screamed and charged with one last chidori.  
  
Naruto looked up at Sasuke with sad eyes. Sasuke. It was Sasuke. Why? Why was it Sasuke who was going to be the end of his life? "Suicide no jutsu," he called. It was an attack he had made up himself but never used to its full extent. Now seemed like a good time. All his chakra released, forcing itself out of his body and toward Sasuke like a tornado wind. It would go into Sasuke's body and take out most of his chakra and clog up the chakra points so they wouldn't produce more. Naruto collapsed onto the ground underneath the oak tree. Sasuke would be the first person he had killed.  
  
Sasuke felt any strength he might have had leaving him. He felt empty, like a shell. He still had some chakra. It was less than a normal non-ninja. It was just enough to keep his him going for about ten minutes. He crawled over to Naruto's body and lifted the man's head onto his lap.  
  
"They always said we would kill each other one day, said it wouldn't end any other way," Naruto mumbled. He reached up a hand to stroke Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke let a tear drift down his face.  
  
"Who did?" Sasuke asked.  
  
"Who would have guess we would have fallen in love first?" Naruto asked ignoring the question.  
  
"Shut up dobe."  
  
"I might soon be dead, but I won't be last. I beat you this time you bastard. I forgive you."  
  
"Fine, you win. Goodbye, Naruto and thank you. I'll see you when I join you on the other side." Naruto nodded. He withdrew his kunai once more. He scratched a final message onto the old oak tree. I love you.  
  
Naruto's hand dropped to his side as soon as the last letter was written, the knife falling to his side. Naruto's face relaxed in death. Sasuke picked up the kuna and studied it. He would have to wait a while for death to take him.  
  
"I love you too," Sasuke told his fallen friend, comrade and lover. He plunged the daggar into himself. He laid down, putting his head of Naruto's chest. He took Naruto's still warm hand in his own and kissed it. "See you in a moment."  
  
That was how the villagers found them, lying together in death. Wasn't it tragic, they mumbled among themselves, that the day they came home they died? Few saw the beauty or intimacy of their last embrace. Their love, so painful and strained, but lasting, Over the years they were forgotten, only remembered as a legend which was closer to the truth than what the record said.  
  
On the hill wild flowers bloomed though no one knew their origin. On the old oak tree, written in a concave of a tree that could not be seen unless it was specifically looked for, was the legacy of their love. UNUS was scrawled in childish handwriting. In a more mature hand, was written underneath for always, I love you.  
  
This is the end of my badly received fic. Hoped you liked it. I was in the mood for something angsty. I'm bad at battle scenes so let me know if mine's ok. Thanks for reading. 


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